Just a few days ago Craig Cockburn was in the warmer surroundings of Melbourne's Crown Casino playing the Aussie Millions festival. He came onto our radar at PokerNews after a series of deep runs; the best being a $30,800 AUD score for a 4th place finish in the $1k Six Handed event.
Cockburn is playing today after getting in last night on the back of a 30-hour journey. This is his first ever poker tournament in Europe and he told us he's feeling fresh and looking forward to his week here.
After a rough start, Shaun Deeb has climbed back to just greater than the starting stack.
Picking up the action on a flop, Eric Van Der Burg checked to Deeb who bet 1,450. Van Der Burg, though, popped it to 3,100. Deeb took a few moments before calling to see the turn. Van Ber Burg fired 5,700, but was unable to shake Deeb.
"How much you have behind?" asked Van Der Burg.
"9,500," said Deeb after a quick look.
The river brought the river and Van Der Burg checked. Deeb quickly checked behind, happy to see Van Der Burg flip over .
is what Deeb tabled, taking down the pot and increasing his stack to about 32,000.
PokerStars.fr Qualifier Jerome Hoen has enjoyed play at his table so far today, pushing his stack above the 60k mark. But it now appears he has some new competition for the role as table captain.
Moments after being moved to the table, Samuli Sipila got right in on the action, calling a 550-chip pre-flop raise from Omar Lazraq. Hoen came along for the ride from the button and after Lazraq checked the flop, Sipila made it 900 chips to see a turn.
The bet didn't shake Hoen or Lazraq, but when Lazraq checked the turn, Sipila led out for a healthy 2,525. Hoen tossed his cards in the muck, but Lazraq made the call and the dealer peeled off the river.
Lazraq checked yet again and after Sipila followed up with a 4,300-chip bet, he called instantly.
Sipila showed a jack for the straight and after Lazraq mucked, he added the pot to a now 50k+ stack.
Anton Ionel won back to back pots to become the chip daddy on his table with 56,000 chips.
In the first hand he raised to 800 from the cut-off after an early position limp. Carlos Da Silva called on the button before Robin Graffouillere put in another raise, to 2,200, from the big blind. Ionel and Da Silva called and the three players headed to a flop.
Graffouillere continued for 4,000 and Ionel was the only caller to the turn. Both players checked to the river where the Romanian's 3,600 bet was check snap-called by Graffouillere. Ionel tabled and took the pot as his opponent mucked.
The next hand Marcin Horecki's min raise was called in three spots, but it was Ionel who had the post flop betting reigns in his hands. His 1,700 flop bet thinned the field to two players, and his 3,800 turn bet was enough to take the pot down. The board read and Ionel opened the drawing before raking in more chips.